Jacksonville, Fla. ? Peyton Manning asked his coaches at halftime if they had any suggestions for him. All he got was, “You haven’t thrown any incompletions. Just try to keep doing what you’re doing.”

Great tip.

Manning was nearly perfect all night, exactly what the Indianapolis Colts needed to overcome whatever emotion the Jacksonville Jaguars got from Richard Collier’s return.

Manning completed his first 17 passes, picked apart Jacksonville’s secondary and led the Colts to their eighth consecutive win and seventh straight playoff berth. He finished 29-for-34 and threw for 364 yards and three touchdowns, and the Colts secured the No. 5 seed in the AFC playoffs with a 31-24 victory over the Jaguars on Thursday night.

“Peyton Manning is unbelievable,” coach Tony Dungy said. “He put a lot of it on his shoulders and kept us in it. He played unbelievably under the circumstances.

“All in all, with everything that was riding on it … it was a great performance. It was an MVP performance for sure.”

Manning led the Colts back from deficits of 14-0 and 24-14, and Adam Vinatieri’s 45-yard field goal tied the game at 24-all late in the fourth.

Indianapolis (11-4) took the lead for good when Keiwan Ratliff intercepted a pass from David Garrard and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown with 4:48 remaining.

“One of those plays I was in the right place at the right time,” Ratliff said. “He threw the ball and I just caught it and tried to get to the end zone.”

The Jaguars had two chances to tie it, but both drives ended with sacks.